Delegates blast governor over grant to Redskins

Source: Roanoke Times

Key House members said McDonnell didn't inform them about the $4 million deal.
By Michael Sluss
981-3373

RICHMOND -- The budget-writing committee in the House of Delegates blitzed Gov. Bob McDonnell's administration Monday, sharply criticizing officials for giving a $4 million grant to the Washington Redskins to keep the team's headquarters in Loudoun County.
....

Senior members of the committee said they had told the administration earlier this year that they opposed the deal. Lawmakers from both parties questioned the wisdom of awarding public funds to the second-most valuable franchise in the National Football League and voiced doubts about whether the Redskins would have moved from Loudoun County without the taxpayer-funded incentives.

The team will also get $2 million from Loudoun County and more than $400,000 from Richmond, which will begin hosting the Redskins' training camp in 2013.

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;What do I say to a schoolteacher who walked up to me and said, 'I see you're going to give $6 million while education is being cut,'&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot; Putney said. &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;How do we handle this?&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;quot;

1. As a resident of Loudoun County, I'm glad they did it

Training camp and practice is held 2 miles from my office. We get the money from people coming into the county to watch, we get the money from parents bringing the kids to the local camps, hosted by the County and involving the redskins. Many of them are active in local charities, support local businesses and many have even opened local businesses. Ladell Betts, recently opened a children's camp and gym facility that works in tandem with another former Redskin's facility that caters to HS aged kids.
These guys chose to stay in the county after their tenure with the team ended.

I can see the benefits of having the team here, first hand. Does Snyder need the money, no....but the county does better when you have a bunch of millionaires out spending their money locally and doing things within the community.

5. We don't have a shortage of education funding in Loudoun

nor in Fairfax or any of the surrounding counties in the Metro Area. I believe, we had 8 of the top 10 richest counties in the US, with Loudoun being #1, Fairfax #2 and Arlington #3.
There's no reason to have the schools crying poor when we're building a new HS every single year and multiple elementary and middle schools in the process.
The teachers here are some of the highest paid in the country.

And those millionaires are replaced with new ones every single year. There are a lot of players who stay here or even move back to this area after their careers are over.

7. The local gov't providing the money is one thing, they get the benefits

It seems like the state money is the issue. Would the Redskins move out of VA? The idea that the Gov would spend $4M in the richest county in the state for pro sports instead of on education (or health or food programs) for the poorer parts seems to be the issue that has folks upset.

11. From the Article

The administration said the Redskins directly and indirectly support 1,832 jobs in the state, generate nearly $200 million in economic activity and produce $9.8 million annually in state and local tax revenue

We're talking about $4 Million PERFORMANCE BASED GRANT, half of which comes from the County, that is for multiple years. The state isn't losing money by doing this.

2. It only mattered to Putney "because a leading citizen asked"

I guess it was us regular peons wouldn't have mattered if we asked.

Putney said a prominent constituent confronted him with a June 13 Roanoke Times editorial with the headline "Gov. McDonnell's football welfare." After reading from the editorial, Putney said: "This individual, who was a leading citizen, came to me and said, 'Did you vote for that damn thing?'"

"It's an embarrassing situation when a prominent citizen comes up and questions my leadership, or doing the job I was sent here to do, when I knew nothing about it," Putney said to Kent.

12. From the article

The administration said the Redskins directly and indirectly support 1,832 jobs in the state, generate nearly $200 million in economic activity and produce $9.8 million annually in state and local tax revenue

We're talking about $4 Million PERFORMANCE BASED GRANT, half of which comes from the County, that is for multiple years. The state isn't losing money by doing this.

10. Is that the standard for the

13. From the article

The administration said the Redskins directly and indirectly support 1,832 jobs in the state, generate nearly $200 million in economic activity and produce $9.8 million annually in state and local tax revenue

We're talking about $4 Million PERFORMANCE BASED GRANT, half of which comes from the County, that is for multiple years. The state isn't losing money by doing this.

18. Yes, the local revenue would just apply to Loudoun

As for the other stuff, I don't know, I know a lot of kids and young adults work for the facility during training camps and practices.
Further reading from another article shows the Redskins are going to pay 24 Million of the Org's money to upgrade their facility, which means a major construction project for the area and more jobs.

What I do know is the Median Income for a teacher here is 68k higher paid teachers are earning over 100k. I think you get 25k for a 1st year Kindergarten Teacher Low 50's for 1st year HS

Teachers aren't hurting in Loudoun. And the return to the state is increased economic activity, higher tax revenues and jobs (many of which employ local teens).

Had the Skin's left, those jobs go along with the revenue and economic activity. Then there's the community contributions the players make to the youth in the area

19. Luckily I don't live in VA but in CT, we had a Stop the Stadium movement that succeeded

Same kind of thing but bigger---then Gov. Rowland (who went to jail for a year on a different offense) offered to build a new stadium costing hundreds of million$ for the rich, fat cat owner of the New Eng Patriots to bring them to Hartford. A citizens' movement stopped the guv dead in his tracks. Even a Repub friend of mine thought it was a huge waste of taxpayer $ and signed the petition.

20. This isn't the same as a stadium outlay

We're talking 4 Mil over multiple years. The Skins have been here for 41 years. They're going to spend 30 million to upgrade their facility, with 4 Million coming from the state and 2 million coming from the county.

So the deal returns revenues to the state, supports jobs which will now include a major construction project that's well in excess of what the state is providing.

27. Is there a republican you don't support?

29. What republican would that be?

I'm looking at it from a fan and resident perspective.
Democrat Governors and Mayors were offering money for the Skins to move out of VA and they were offering a lot more than 4 million dollars too.

And it would have been a good situation for their economies too. I'm happy they stayed in my backyard. I get to meet and workout with a lot of the players at my gym in the off season. They're out in the community, working with kids and quite frankly, it's kind of neat to have some of them as neighbors or sit next to in a local restaurant